16 /7¥ 




3d Session. ' f \ No. 1433. 



63d CoNGKfcss, \ HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, j Report 



NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



February 23, 1915. — Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state 
of the Union and ordered to be printed. 



Mr. Fess, from the Committee on Education, submitted the following 

REPORT. 

[To accompany H. R. 11749.] 

The Committee on Education, having considered the bill to provide 
for a national university, report: 

Popular education lies at the foundation of our democratic system 
of government. To supply it must largely rest with the States. 
Marked advancement has been made in this field. Illiteracy is being 
rapidly banished. Vocational training is receiving attention. 

Higher education is also well cared for in colleges, universities, and 
technical schools. Almost every State has its system of State normal 
schools for the training of teachers. Most of them have the State 
university, primarily for agricultural and mechanical training, but in 
later years the modern State university, answering to wider demands, 
which do graduate work. There are nearly 500 colleges, private and 
denominational, within the boundaries of the United States. Among 
these there are a few heavily endowed institutions which do graduate 
work, in addition to the regular college work. 

Notwithstanding the galaxy of American higher educational insti- 
tutions, its colleges, universities, and technical schools, many of 
which stand very high educationally, the country does not have a 
university in the true sense. In every institution, however good, the 
chief work, the mass of students, the large proportion of teaching 
force, the major use of laboratories, etc., are devoted to under- 
graduate work, to college rather than university work. We have no 
single institution devoted to the sort and degree of work chiefly done 
by the Berlin University. Such an institution as is here proposed 
would complete our system of education by utilizing the vast resources 
here in the capital for the special research of the expert investigator. 

The proposal here is to materialize the ambition of the founder of 
the Nation. 

Washington made a National University a specific item of recom- 
mendation at different times in his messages to Congress. He com- 



2 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

municated his views in writing to such men as Randolph, Hamilton, 
and Jefferson, members of his Cabinet. He made specific recom- 
mendations to State officials of Virginia, including Gov. Brooke, in 
1795; he solemnly urged it in his Farewell Address in 1796, and in 
the same year he communicated his wish to the Commissioners of 
the District of Columbia, even going so far as to indicate his will- 
ingness to set aside a fund for its establishment and to specify the 
probable site of the plant. 

Before his death he had the indorsement of most public men, 
inside and outside of the two Houses of Congress. In 1799 his will 
contained a bequest of 50 shares ($500 each) of Potomac stock for 
the beginning. 

His scheme was most heartily indorsed in ofhcial capacity by John 
Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, J. Q. 
Adams, and Andrew Jackson. Jefferson, one of the country's 
earliest patrons of education, even went to the extent of proposing 
to Gen. Washington the transplanting of a European college, fac- 
ulty and all, as an early step in the enterprise. 

The appearance near the forties of sectional differences and the 
expression of the fear of too much centralization caused the friends 
of the enterprise to rest. In the forties and fifties much talk and some 
efforts were active in building such an institution at Albany, N. Y. 
The Civil War further shut out interest in the Washington project. 

Interest was finally revived in 1869 by John W. Hoyt, who had 
made a tour of careful inspection of the European institutions of 
higher learning. The merits of Commissioner Hoyt's efforts lie in his 
effective work in creating a favorable impression among educators in 
the country. The results of his progaganda were noticed in the in- 
terest of the National Teachers' Association. At its annual meeting 
in 1869, held at Trenton, N. J., the association adopted a resolution 
offered by A. J. Rickoff, of Ohio, committing the association to the 
project. It also appointed a committee of 35, representing all parts 
of the Union and all the liberal as well as business ])rofessions, and 
upon which appear the names of Rickoff', of Ohio, and Wickersham, 
of Pennsylvania. From that day to this, this great association has 
stood committed to the consummation of the great undertaking. 
Of all its many great heads not one has rendered more valiant service 
than its present head. President Swain of Swarthmore College. 

It was largely through this body, ably seconded by numerous great 
scholars in college and university circles, that there was won support 
of such men as Senator Charles Sumner, T. O. White, J. W. Patterson, 
M. H. Carpenter, J. J. IngaUs, W. B. Allison, L. Q. C. Lamar, A. H. 
Garland, and many others. Through the influence of these men a 
bill was introduced in both Houses of Congress in 1872. By this time 
the propaganda was winning the support of most of the college heads 
of the country. One very important exception was President Chas. 
W. Eliot. In 1873 President Grant made the university proposition 
an item of favorable recommendation in his annual message. The 
National Education Association continued by resolution and ad- 
dresses to keep the matter before the public. President Hayes in- 
dorsed the project in 1878. L. Q. C. Lamar, Secretary of the Interior 
under Cleveland, called the attention of the country to the neglect in 
his report to the President. In 1890 the Senate created a special 
standing committee, to be known as the National University Com- 

n. OF 0. 

I^Ah '"^ 1915 



NATIOlSrAL UNIVEESITY OF THE UNITED STATES. 6 

mittee, which is still in existence, although quite dormant. The 
National Association of State University Presidents, representing all 
the State universities of the Nation, is also another significant associa- 
tion backing the movement. 

Looking over the activities working for this consummation, one is 
bewildered over the fact that in the face of it all there is nothing 
accomplished by the Government. 

Note the factors: 

1. Urged by Washington. 

2. Seconded by at least 10 of his successors. 

3. Supported by at least half a dozen justices of the Supreme Court, 
including Chief Justices Jay, Rutledge, Marshall, and Chase. 

4. Formally recommended by at least 20 Cabinet mmisters, among 
them the most brilliant lights of our Nation. 

5. Formal support by the heads of both the Army and Navy. 

6. Enthusiastic advocacy of the heads of at least 400 colleges and 
universities. 

7. Almost unanimous indorsement of both the scholars and 
learned associations of the countr}^. 

8. Advocacy by the leading clergymen of the country. 

9. Advocacy of the public-school men and women in the country. 

10. Support of various women's organizations of the land. 

11. Warm support at different times of the Senate as a body. 
This array of advocates would seem enough to enact any law that 

had an element of merit in it. 

This support is. based upon the following facts: 

What we need in Washington is an institution not so much to 
multiply scholars as to develop scholarship ; not to teach learners, but 
to produce research workers; not so much to disseminate knowledge 
already known, but to cultivate the power to find what is 3?'et un- 
known. 

Such, an institution will not interfere with nor supersede the hun- 
dreds of institutions already existing, but it will supplement them, 
as it will indeed depend upon them for its supply of students seeking 
the rank of special experts. Instead of weakening the existent 
university or college, like the multiplied collective strand, it gains its 
strength from a combination of all without weakening any one. 

It will be in a unique sense our university and will develop the 
sense of pride and democratic support not now felt by any institution. 
It will thus be sought by our ambitious men as they pass from college 
or university to the more specialized field of expert investigation. 
Graduate, as well as professor, who may be desired for some special 
work now and then, will look toward it. It ^vill thus divert the flow / 
of American students from Berlin, Paris, Oxford, Jena, and Vienna, ^ 
to Washington. 

Not only this, but it will most certainly become the most metro- 
politan institution, patronized by the largest groups of European 
students as well as students from all other progressive countries in the 
world. The records of immigration to America for the past 50 
years'" are conclusive of this statement. 

There can not be serious doubt of the effect of such a national 
university upon scholarship in our own country. Washington long 
ago had come to be one of the greatest scientific centers of the earth. 
Here are assembled the most remarkable collections in the way of 



4 NATIOlSrAL UlSriVEESITY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

scientific i:aaterial known to tlie scientific world. Here the various 
departments of scientific investigation, headed by the world's best 
experts, aided by a group of trained workers, with separate labo- 
ratories and exj^erimental facilities, run up into the hundreds. Here, 
also, are domiciled 34 associations devoted to the investigations of 
truth in various spheres. At least that number are incorporated by 
act of Congress. These make Washington attractive to the scholar 
of all countries. Many of the societies that are not domiciled here 
hold their annual meetings at the Capital. 

If anyone should doubt the wisdom of the establishment of such 
an institution upon the ground that we do not need it, or upon the 
ground of expense, or of corrupt control, or upon any other ground, 
a complete answer is the Smithsonian Institution. This institution, 
established in 1840, with a $500,000 bequest, has proved itself to be 
one of the most successful in the advancement of knowledge. To- 
day it is well housed in buildings worth at least as much as the 
original gift, and it has accumulated collections of books and manu- 
scripts by the simple method of Government exchange, with slight 
cost to anyone of an amount beyond the original gift. Besides this, 
here under such men as Henry, Baird, Powell, Newcomb, Goode, 
Langley, and others, have grown up these rare agencies of advance- 
ment in useful knowledge. Here telegraphy was perfected and then 
turned over to the Government. Research on the lines of climate, 
meteorology, etc., was conducted by these leaders of science and was 
finally allowed to grow under governmental agencies into the pres- 
ent Weather Bureau. Under the direction of Prof. Baird investiga- 
tions of life in the sea, with special relation to fish purely in a 
scientific interest, grew into the Government Fish Commission, 
now so important as an agency under experts attempting to supply 
needed food from* the wastes of ocean waters. Other important 
governmental agencies had their beginnings here. The Congressional 
Library, America's greatest collection of books, housed in the world's 
most beautiful building, was started in the same way by the same 
institution. 

In view of such results flowing from this single establishment, we 
ask, what is the possibility of a national university under a similar 
management with means multiplied and a field unlimited ? Even 
to-day there exists in the Capital the university, only awaiting organi- 
zation, housing, and research students. Probably in no one place in 
the world is there such a rare and numerous aggregation of material 
for laboratory use as in Washington. No university could gather such 
laboratory facilities. 

The bill provides that there shall be established in the District of 
Columbia an institution of higher learning, to be known as the 
National University of the United States. 

Its purpose is to promote the advance of science, pure and applied, 
and of the hberal and fine arts by original investigation and research 
and such other means as may appear suitable. Furthermore, to train 

men and women for posts of responsibility in the pubhc and private 

/^service of State and Nation; also to cooperate with the scientific 
departments of the Federal Government and with the various colleges 
and universities, pubhc and private, tlu'oughout the country. This 
last purpose is one of the most important. 



NATIONAL UNIVEESITY OP THE UNITED STATES. 5 

Located in various parts of the city are museums, bureaus, observa- 
tories, exchanges, laboratories, etc., any one of which is not to be 
found in equal richness of material in any place in the country. The 
Agricultural Department alone is a good example. Here in one 
department of investigation are found: (a) The Weather Bureau, 
with almost a score of experts at work; (b) the Bureau of Animal 
Industry, with over a dozen experts; (c) the Bureau of Plant Indus- 
try, with nearly 40 experts; (d) the Forest Service, with about 30 
experts; (e) the Bureau of Chemistry, with at least 35 experts; 
(/) the Bureau of Soils, with 7 experts; (g) the Bureau of Ento- 
mology, with more than a dozen experts; (h) the Bureau of Bio- 
logical Survey, with a half-dozen experts; besides experts from 6 to 
15 in charge of separate Bureaus of Accounts and Disbursements, 
Pubhcations, Statistics, Library, Experiment Stations, and PubHc 
Roads. This last is the youngest of many research foundations here 
in the Capital which fitly represent the scientific operations of the 
Government. There is scarcely a single field of expert investigation 
that is not well worked here, and by the world's greatest experts, and 
with the highest results. The annual reports of these various bureaus 
that number in the hundreds would make a Mbrary. The monetary 
value represented wiU reach into the millions of dollars. To operate 
them requires about five millions a year. The experts employed, and 
those elsewhere affiliated with the work here, will number into the 
hundreds. 

The new discoveries announced from time to time are world-wide 
n import, and some of them revolutionize scientific knowledge. Air 
navigation was solved by governmental investigation. The Panama 
Canal was made possilble by governmental engineering skill. YeUow 
fever was annihilated by a Government expert. Probably more use- 
ful applications of scientific knowledge have been perfected in Wash- 
ington than in any other place in the world. 

The easy possibility of utilizing these unequaled resources for stimu- 
lating wide-awake students is the chief and immediate ground for the 
proposed institution. 

It is to be a graduate institution. 

The ultimate authority in the government of the institution is 
vested in a board of trustees appointed by the President of the United 
States; but this board must consult and consider the counsel and 
advice of a national advisory council, consisting of one representative 
from each State in the Union, this representative to be the president 
of the State university in those States in which there is a State uni- 
versity, and in those States where no such institution exists a person 
to be appointed by the governor of the State. This form of organi- 
zation secures two great advantages. It secures the efficiency, 
economy, promptness, and vigor of administration characteristic of a 
small board vested with full authority to act. 

The institution is authorized to accept gifts and donations of money 
or property from any private citizen or pubhc body, provided these 
gifts be given with no conditions attached for the general purposes of 
the university. This university will have an organic affiliation with 
educational institutions of other countries by which we wiU have the 
exchange of professorships. It would be difficult to estimate the 
influence upon a better understanding and relationship with all 
countries of ideas as an organization of this sort located at the capital 



6 jSTATIONAL UlSriVEIlSITY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of the nation. It would be a far greater insurance against world 
warfare than battleships. Now, when Europe is in the tliroes of war 
and all education is at a standstill, is the time to establish this 
institution. 

It goes without saying that such an institution must be free from 
all characteristics that dominate modern college life. Modern ath- 
letics, college spirit, and the consec{Ut3nt police disciplinary features, 
all proper in their places, will have no place here. Even degrees are . 
not to be sought. 

In this beautiful Capital of the Nation, with the galaxy of great 
buildings, housing such treasures of art and science, with its many 
associations, representing great learning, the significant item of 
world meaning, the crown of it all is lackmg — a national university. 

If the Government would make good the $25,000, the gift of the 
father of the country for this purpose, it would materialize now not 
less than S4, 000, 000. If we add to this such gifts as may be offered 
by benefactors the endowment can be placed easily in the $100,000,000 
mark. 

The bill carries an initial appropriation of $500,000. The organi- 
zation and location of buildings will be left to the board of control. 
The committee believes such an institution is demanded in the interest 
of learning by the highest dignity and welfare of the Nation and the 
honor of the founder of the Republic who urgently recommended it 
together with other distinguished Americans. 

o 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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